Man finds job after grant to erase tattoos

By Paul Stokes

12:00AM GMT 13 Nov 2002

An unemployed man has been given his first full-time job in 10 years after being paid £1,500 by the Government to have tattoos removed.

George Wilson, 39, was granted job interviews 15 times during his time on the dole, but was always turned down. He believed prospective employers were put off by the markings etched in Indian ink on the backs of his hands.

At 17, he had added the name of his then girlfriend Alison to his right hand with a series of "borstal dots" across the knuckles. On the other hand, he put his favourite punk groups of the day - the Sex Pistols and Sham 69.

Mr Wilson was made redundant by a drainage company when he was 29 and learned to regret his self-inflicted tattoos. Earlier this year he joined the Department for Work and Pension's New Deal scheme and was given a trial with a building maintenance company.

He said: "Because of my experience in the past, I lacked confidence and I couldn't continue with the job because I became paranoid that everyone was looking at my hands."

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Rather than see him return to the ranks of the unemployed, his New Deal supervisor Deborah Linden arranged for laser treatment to remove the tattoos. Mr Wilson, from Winlaton, Tyne & Wear, has since been taken on permanently by the company Northern Services.

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: "The New Deal has an adviser discretionary fund which covers circumstances like these which are out of the ordinary."